Kaneto is a resident of Moscow, Russia, as learned through his interview, and is fluent in both Russian and English. He was given his MVP for a video he created, not on the Star Citizen Universe, but of his ideas of what would make a better RADAR Globe. You can view his original video here: Radar Globe 2.0d by kaneto.dno

He was easy to track down, and the INNterrogation went off without a hitch. While I could say I badgered him with questions, I don’t think that would give him enough credit as he bear’ed them all with good humor and answered everything I threw at him. We at INN would like to thank you very much for sitting down with us Kanteo, we appreciated the interview!

Q: How long have you been following Star Citizen?

A: Almost since the original campaign was announced, October 2012.

Q: What about the game drew you to it?

A: Space. Spaceships. Space adventures. And skill-based competitive PvP. Yuri Gagrin is still my hero, ever since kindergarten, and I have been playing EVE Online for 6 years. I am addicted to space.

Q: For people who might not know, who is Yuri Gagarin?

A: He is the first human in space.

Q: Do you have a background in multimedia or UI Design?

A: I’m a CG(Computer Graphics) artist, and I have been for almost 20 years. I create visual content 9 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I work for an American company that is based in San Francisco, but I’m in their production office here in Moscow. My main specialization is architectural/product renderings, but sometimes our office works on animation/motion graphics projects.

Q: What are the specs on the computer you run SC?

CPU: i7-4790

GPU: 2 x GTX780 in SLI

RAM: 32GB

Desktop: 3440×1440 resolution, but playing at 1920×1080 because of problems with SC mouse management system.

Q: Considering your MVP, and the great work you did on it, when do you start at CIG?

A: I’m never going to apply at CIG, because it would ruin the magic of this game for me.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for a new-and-improved RADAR?

A: I was playing a lot of Arena Commander and was really annoyed with current UI design. I know it is temporary, but it is… difficult to read. The dream about what I wanted in a perfect game pushed me to start work on my project.

Q: What program(s) did you use for the project?

A: 3ds Max, Vray, Fusion and After Effects(AE) with some plugins installed.

Q: What was the most difficult part of the project?

A: There wasn’t any difficult part. It was a slow and meditative process, especially with ambient soundtrack on in background.

Q: Describe the process you took for creating the new RADAR.

A: The process was pretty simple (for me). I created a sphere in 3ds Max, drew some lines and objects, applied materials, animated various parameters, and finally rendered the scene. After that I fixed some issues in Fusion, added text and color grading in AE. It took some time. I went through 3 to 4 iterations before I was satisfied with result.

Q: Did your idea about the RADAR change as you started working through it?

A: Only in small details. The overall idea is still the same, with the end result to make Star Citizen the best game possible.

Q: Considering the critique received after, by the community on Reddit and presumably other forums, do you plan on revising your idea again?

A: I’m working on the revisions based on community feedback right now. There were lots of comments, so I have a good bit of work to do.

Q: What do you hope comes of your project?

A: I hope that all the community feedback that was given on this project will help CIG to make the best UI design – something that I hope will suit every backer. Of course there will be no perfect RADAR, even when Star Citizen released, so everything should be highly customizable and moddable.

Q: What is your favorite ship?

A: Whatever ship is the most effective in competitive PvP. The Aegis Sabre is my favorite right now.

Q: How did you feel when you were announced as the MVP?

A: I didn’t really think about my own emotions, the community reaction was more important (not to mention the MVP badge), and the reaction was very positive. That’s really what I’m happy about.

Q: If you had one thing you wanted to communicate to the community, what would it be?

The publishing business is real, and it’s happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support Chris Roberts who does not speak for the big publishers or the big dev corporations, but who speaks for all of the gaming community!

I’m kidding. I think what I would want to say is this.

Star Citizen is just a game. Don’t forget that it is when you are fighting each other on Reddit and the forums.

Q: Finally, is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for the interview and all the INN does, you are all doing a great job.

Thank you Kaneto, the RADAR Globe you made definitely shows you’re doing a great job too, and I look forward to seeing your next iteration. It’s always appreciated when someone takes time out of their day to make our community(the Star Citizen one) a better place, and to add to the game we all hope for. Kaneto, you definitely do so, and that is appreciated without limit. Thank you again for sitting down to talk with us.

Next week I will be interviewing the creator of a niche within a niche. If Space Sims are a niche, then an RPG game based on one must be doubly so! I’ve already tracked him down, now we just have to work out a schedule for the recording. That’s right, next week with PurgatorialFlame will hopefully be another video edition. We’ll see you all in the ‘verse!